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[0:00] To listen back to anything. Now today I want to do something loosely related to what we've been doing.! But it's kind of a bit of an appendix to the series.

[0:10] ! And it's something I've mentioned throughout this series, but we never really got into it. Today we are looking at angels, demons, and the devil. I want us to ask today, what or who are these things?

[0:26] We hear about them in the Bible, but what kind of power do they have? And how should we think about them? And how do they even relate to us? How do we kind of think about this?

[0:38] Because the Bible talks about them a lot. In fact, when you read the Gospels, we're in the beginning of the Gospels at Christmas, aren't we? And some of the first characters you meet are angels, aren't they?

[0:51] So who announces Jesus' conception and birth? It's angels. And then you read on in the Bible, who does Jesus meet? He meets demons, unclean spirits.

[1:03] And then he meets the devil as he's tempted in the wilderness. As soon as we open the New Testament, as soon as we open the Bible, we encounter these things everywhere.

[1:14] And so they seem such key figures. But we don't know much about them, do we? We don't often think about them. So what are they? Well, let's just dive in and look at the first thing.

[1:24] Angels. Angels. Angels. Now, the word angel comes from the Greek word angelos, which means either angel, kind of in what we're thinking of, or it can mean messenger, right?

[1:38] A human messenger. And in Hebrew, the word is malach, meaning, again, angel or messenger. And so humans can be referred to as angelos, like in James 2, Rahab's spies, the spies that go to Rahab, they're referred to as angels, messengers.

[1:56] But actually, a large use of the word angelos, it seems to refer to these non-human, supernatural messengers from God.

[2:08] So as soon as you open up the Bible, Genesis 1, you quickly realise this world isn't purely just science and material stuff.

[2:20] So first of all, there's a creator. So God made all of this. But also, we quickly realise that there are supernatural creatures in existence.

[2:32] So in Genesis 3, we meet a talking evil serpent, don't we? And at the end of Genesis 3, we meet creatures called cherubim, who have a flaming sword to guard the Garden of Eden.

[2:45] And then Genesis 21, we meet angels speaking from heaven. So Genesis 21, and God heard the voice of the boy, that's Ishmael, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, What troubles you, Hagar?

[3:01] Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. And then at the beginning of the Gospels, we quickly meet these things called angels, don't we?

[3:13] Who remembers what happens to Zechariah when he enters the holy place in the temple? Well, what does he meet? What appears in front of him? An angel. So Luke 1, and there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

[3:30] So no one's allowed into this place. Zechariah, once a year, he's allowed in. But somehow he goes in, and in front of him appears this thing, this angel.

[3:42] And he has a message from God about the future. And so from the outset, the Bible speaks of these supernatural creatures called angels.

[3:52] And they seem to be non-human, but they can talk. They seem to have supernatural knowledge of events. They have direct messages from God.

[4:03] They seem to be directly sent from God. And they seem to interact with this world in a supernatural way. They can just appear and disappear. But what exactly are they?

[4:17] Well, let's break this down. There are a few sub-points. First thing, angels are real creatures. In all these cases, we are never given the impression that the appearance of angels are kind of hallucinations.

[4:34] Or just these unreal things that people are seeing. No. In every case, it is read as real history. So Adam was real.

[4:45] And so the cherubim in front of the garden is real. Zechariah is as real as the angel that he saw in the holy place. As real as the resurrection is, so are the angels who appear in the tomb.

[5:00] And so whatever they are, we'll get into what they are, but whatever they are, they are real. They exist. And they aren't equals with God.

[5:10] They're not kind of other gods alongside God. No. Think back to our Sunday school on God. That's definitely not the case. But they are creatures made by God.

[5:21] So Nehemiah 9, God made the host of heaven. That's referring to angels. Angels. These are all real creatures beneath God, made by God.

[5:34] And so think back to our creature, creative creature distinction. Forget this bit in a moment. I'll explain that in a second. But this is all things, right? All things.

[5:45] Angels are included in this. Okay? But they aren't like creatures that we encounter in this universe, are they?

[5:56] They aren't like humans or dogs or birds. They seem to interact with this physical world in unusual ways. They seem to be something kind of beyond physical.

[6:08] More than physical. That is to say, second sub-point, angels are spiritual creatures. So look at Hebrews 1, 14. In this chapter, the writer to the Hebrews, he's been talking about angels and how Jesus is greater than them.

[6:24] And he speaks of angels in this verse. And look what kind of creature they are. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

[6:41] Angels seem to be a part of this, not a part of this visible universe, but a part of a different invisible spiritual realm.

[6:58] They are spirits. So Colossians 1, 16 speaks of an invisible spiritual aspect of creation that the Son of God created.

[7:12] For by him, by Jesus, the Son of God, for by him all things were created, all things, here we go, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.

[7:24] There is an invisible aspect to creation. And look at Ephesians 6. This is talking about evil spiritual creatures. We'll get onto that at the end.

[7:36] For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

[7:50] And when it's talking about the heavenly places here, it's not talking about heaven, like in our session. It's not talking about heaven of heavens. It's talking about a spiritual realm, the heavenly places.

[8:02] We get the impression that there is an invisible, supernatural, spiritual, behind-the-scenes existence to creation.

[8:15] An invisible realm to this creation. Where spiritual forces, good or bad, spiritual forces and spiritual creatures are at work in this realm.

[8:26] So heaven would be included in that invisible aspect of creation because we can't see it. It's kind of, it's not a part of, we can see it when we get there, but we can't see it right now.

[8:38] But it seems to be talking more than just about heaven because it's talking about evil spiritual forces here. There's another invisible spiritual dimension to our creation.

[8:49] So, I think that has illustrated. I wonder if you can tell me what it is. It's kind of like if you peel back the visible part of creation.

[9:00] Does that look like that? Like peeling back, right? Peeling back. Go behind the scenes of the invisible, of the visible thing. We can see our universe. We can see heaven when we get there.

[9:11] Other people will see heaven when they go there. But if there's an invisible aspect of running throughout all of creation, a spiritual invisible realm, it's kind of, it's all this kind of behind-the-scenes action.

[9:25] We peel back reality. Okay? So that's called, there's the invisible... spiritual realm.

[9:37] There you go. And angels seem to be a part of this invisible spiritual realm, but they are spiritual creatures.

[9:57] Now, what does spiritual actually mean? Are they kind of made of this ethereal plasma that we kind of can or can't touch?

[10:07] We're not sure. Or are they made of something funky like that? Well, the answer is, we don't know. We're never given details. But spiritual beings seem to just be in contrast with the normal physical beings of this universe.

[10:24] And so they're not quite like what we know of. They seem to not be bound by physical limitations as we are. So, like with Zechariah, angels can appear spontaneously.

[10:38] Right? They're not omnipresent. Only God is that. But they seem to just not be interacting with this physical world in ways that we can understand.

[10:50] And they can appear in dreams as well, like with Joseph. Do you remember Joseph in Matthew 1? But sometimes they do appear in visible forms, don't they? When we encounter them in the Bible, they're in visible forms.

[11:04] So they sometimes appear as men. Think about the resurrection. Jesus' tomb. They appear in bright clothes. Some of them seem to have wings.

[11:15] We see that in Isaiah 6 when we glimpse into heaven. And there's something striking about them when they do appear. They don't look like they're from this universe.

[11:26] They look supernatural. So think about how people react to them. The women at the tomb, they were frightened when they saw these men. Zechariah was scared when he saw that thing in the holy place.

[11:41] It wasn't like, oh, there's some guys just sitting over there. There's something striking about them. Now, we don't know if they look like that all the time. Or maybe they just kind of appear temporarily to be seen by people.

[11:54] But whatever it is, there is something otherworldly about them. And we don't know what they're made of. But they're called spiritual beings. And that means that they have supernatural qualities.

[12:09] This is the third sub-point. Let me just list some descriptions about them. So angels are described as mighty. 2 Thessalonians 1. They are powerful and are able to do supernatural things in this universe.

[12:26] So think about how did the stone get moved at the resurrection? You know, the women were wondering how it's going to be moved. But the angel moves it. Or think about the locked prison in Acts 5.

[12:41] An angel was kind of instantly could open these locked prison doors. So angels are mighty. Angels are very knowledgeable. So when Jesus talked about his return, think back to a couple of weeks ago, he says, Matthew 24, He seems to suggest, even compared to humans, angels know a lot about creation.

[13:10] They're very knowledgeable. They're advanced. Angels are also moral creatures. So look how they're called. They're described as holy. Matthew 25.

[13:22] Obedient. There are elect angels. But also 2 Peter 2. You have angels. There are angels that fell into sin. We'll get on to that next.

[13:35] But something to see here. That they are moral creatures. That they're not like planks of wood. They are moral creatures with moral responsibility. And so, accordingly, Christ will judge fallen angels in the end.

[13:49] Jude 6. And Jesus says something interesting in Luke 20 about angels. He says angels don't die. So in Luke 20, Jesus is talking about our resurrection, the resurrection of believers.

[14:04] And he says, Luke 20, 36, he says, they, believers, cannot die anymore in the resurrection because they are equal to angels. angels. So angels, like our undying resurrection cells, angels don't die.

[14:25] Angels don't seem to be susceptible to death and injury like we are, but probably that's because they're spiritual creatures as well. And so they don't die. But then Jesus also says angels don't breed.

[14:37] So in the same passage, Jesus says in the resurrection, we will also be like angels in that we won't be married. So angels aren't designed to marry.

[14:54] Astonishingly, that is only part of humanity's design. And if they aren't designed to marry, it's unlikely that they're designed to reproduce. It's kind of a bit of an implication about it, but I think we could go that way.

[15:11] And so they're not a race like the human race that have families and grow. No, they don't marry. And God probably made a certain amount of angels.

[15:23] And then that's that, that kind of a part of his initial creation. Angels, I make them. And then that's that. And how many did he make? Well, look at Revelation five.

[15:34] Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. There are a lot of angels in existence.

[15:48] In fact, the name Lord of hosts. So, you know, God is sometimes referred to as the Lord of hosts. That means the Lord of armies. He's referring to angel armies. It's the host of Nehemiah nine that we, that we read earlier.

[16:01] So, so God is the God of armies of thousands of angels. And there seem to be different types of angels. So, uh, we hear of cherubim in Genesis three.

[16:14] Cherubim are kind of, they're related to guarding. Usually there's seraphim in Isaiah six, that they be related to worship. And there are archangels.

[16:26] Now, we don't really know what they are, but the term is referring to something kind of superior ruling around about the angels. Um, you see that in Jude nine.

[16:37] And we don't know the details about this, but, but there seems to be some sort of order and class to angels. Yeah. And look how the Westminster large catechism sums all this up.

[16:48] we've been reading through the large catechism in our staff meetings. It's been great. How did God create angels? God created all the angels, spirits, spiritual beings, immortal.

[17:01] They don't die. Holy. They're moral, excelling in knowledge that they seem to have superior knowledge, mighty in power. And he created them to execute his commandments and to praise his name.

[17:14] Yeah. Subject to change. Now notice here, it mentions why God made angels. So two purposes to execute his commandments and to praise his name.

[17:32] These are the two big reasons why angels were made and what they do in creation. And so let's look at that. The next sub point, the purpose of angels. So the first purpose is worship.

[17:45] So look back to Nehemiah 9 again. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens. That's talking about actual heaven. With all their host, the host of heaven worships you.

[18:00] Angels are made to worship God, to vocally praise God in heaven. And that's what we see when we get glimpses into heaven.

[18:11] So Isaiah 6, the seraphim cry out, holy, holy, holy, before the throne. Revelation 5, thousands of angels are before the throne in heaven.

[18:22] Same with a loud voice. Worthy is the lamb who was slain. And so the purpose of angels, the first purpose, it's to praise God.

[18:34] But also, there's another purpose, to execute God's plan of salvation. So look at Hebrews 1 again. This is a remarkable purpose of angels.

[18:46] Hebrews 1, 4. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Angels exist.

[19:03] And angels work for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. Do you realize what he's saying here? Angels exist for the sake of the church.

[19:18] For you. Now this doesn't mean that there are guardian angels, kind of one for every one of us. That idea kind of developed in the medieval church and there's no indication in the Bible of guardian angels, kind of one for every person.

[19:34] There's nothing like that in the Bible. But we do see here that they exist for us more in the sense that they are God's workers in this world to serve the church and execute his plan of salvation.

[19:48] So in Psalm 91 we see that they are said to watch over all the saints. 1 Timothy 5 that the church is present before the angels.

[20:00] In Jude 9 that the archangel Michael is said to be fighting behind the scenes against the devil in the invisible spiritual realm. And we constantly see throughout the Bible that angels are messengers of revelation and messages to God's people.

[20:19] So angels aren't sent just to have a little chat. They're there for kind of big salvation revelation purposes. And we see that throughout the Bible, particularly Christmas time.

[20:30] What do we see all the time at Christmas? it's angels revealing these things. And so they are servants of God. This is how you think about them.

[20:40] They are servants of God. His workers whom he sends out to drive salvation forward. Working out his plan.

[20:52] And that's why they're always there at the key point, key turning points of salvation. Have you ever noticed that? So who announces the birth of Jesus to the shepherds?

[21:06] It's angels. Who ministers to Jesus after his temptation? It's angels. Who is there at the tomb in the resurrection?

[21:16] It's angels. Who is there at the ascension speaking to the disciples? It's angels. And who will accompany Jesus when he returns? His mighty angels.

[21:27] angels. All the key turning points of salvation. And so angels are remarkable, powerful creatures.

[21:38] Something we can't really fathom. We're just kind of tip of the iceberg here. But what's amazing is that they exist to serve us.

[21:50] To execute God's plan of salvation for us. And in fact, Peter says something remarkable about angels. He talks about all that God is doing in the church, our salvation, and he says, 1 Peter 1, the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, these things announced to you are things into which angels long to look.

[22:20] God's work in the church, the power of the gospel at work in this world, Christ's salvation in the lives of sinners, God's work in your life right now, these are things angels long to look into.

[22:42] Angels long to peer down and see what Christ is doing here on earth. angels long to see why the Son of God became flesh.

[22:55] Angels long to peer into a Sunday sermon. But these angels long to look into your salvation. And why is that?

[23:07] Why do these mighty angels who know the heavenly realms, why do they long to peer into our lives? Because the Son of God didn't come to earth for angels, he came for you.

[23:27] Look at Hebrews 2. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. just think about it.

[23:46] The word didn't become an angel, did he? The word became flesh. Angels aren't made in the image of God, only we are.

[24:01] God didn't love angels so much that he sent his only son. No, he loved us. And he made angels to serve you in your salvation.

[24:18] And so just a few points of application on this. First thing is, realize that angels exist. There are real spiritual forces out there, and angels are a part of that.

[24:33] They are God's workers in this world. Second thing, given that this is the purpose of angels, this is why we don't worship angels.

[24:45] And I'm not saying you're tempted to do that, but I think it's good to realize what we're doing here. Firstly, Paul forbids the worship of angels in Colossians 2. 3. But also, angels are not made to be worshipped.

[25:01] They are made to serve us, serve the church. They're made to help us worship God. And so to worship them, it would be utterly upside down, wouldn't it?

[25:16] But also, third thing, don't pray to angels. So God uses angels, but that doesn't mean we pray to angels for help.

[25:28] No, we pray to God for help. That's how Jesus teaches us. And then God responds as he likes, whether he uses angels or not. We don't really know how he works, if he does work when he uses angels.

[25:41] But we pray to God, and then he helps us in whatever way he likes. Which brings me to the final application, focus on God, not angels. God in all this, we start thinking about these things, it's easy to get carried away with all this, isn't it?

[26:00] God has told us about angels, he's told us remarkable things, that there are things to know about them, but the point isn't to focus on them, it's to focus on God.

[26:13] It's to realise he is in charge of this heavenly host. He is in complete power and control over this spiritual world, and he's made these angels to serve you.

[26:27] He is doing heavenly majestic things all for you and your salvation. And so that is angels in a nutshell. I'll pause there for questions, actually, and then we'll move on to humans and the devil.

[26:43] How long have we got? Okay, for time. Oh, yeah, Lancashire.

[26:55] Yes, so, what do you talk of the cup, or the Hebrew cherubim, and going into 1712, 16 cherubim, what do you think is the significance of that cherubim and the ancient carved ones?

[27:11] You mean the golden carved ones? No, not the golden cut. No, no, so, no, the golden cut, like, the, the, the, the, the cherubim manufactured on the lid of the covenant, is that, is that what you're referring to?

[27:25] Yeah, yeah, yeah, what's the significance of that? And, yeah, okay, so, what Lacta's asking, there are, when the tabernacle is made and the Ark of the Covenant, they, they carve on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, there are kind of two cherubim with their wings doing that, and that kind of over the lid, and God said to dwell there, that's the mercy seat, kind of where God's presence is kind of particularly intensified.

[28:00] Why cherubim? One, I don't know, but I can have some guesses. The whole of the tabernacle is designed like heaven, like, there's, so, the, the veil, kind of between the holy place and the holy of holies, it's kind of embroidered with angels on it, and so, the whole tabernacle is meant to be like a little picture of heaven, it's a mini heaven, or kind of a reflection of, because that's where God dwells, that's where he specially dwells, just like we saw in our session on heaven a few weeks ago, and so, God is saying, I specially dwell in the heaven of heavens, and this tabernacle is going to be like that, I'm going to specially dwell here, and so, the presence of images of angels in that place is, it's not surprising, it's a mini picture of heaven, but why on top of the mercy seat, maybe an extension of that, Paul says that angels are kind of intermediaries, they're kind of mediators between, yeah, in God's revelation, so it could be something to do with that,

[29:08] I don't know, good question, yeah, come up with an answer, and come back in January, good question, yeah, really good question, yeah, I was hoping someone would ask that, that's good, so there are times in scripture, and I mentioned this in our adult Sunday school in the Trinity, there are sometimes in scripture that there is a figure referred to as the angel of the Lord, right, L-O-R-D, capital, angel of the Lord, and that figure seems to be God himself, so there are characters called angels that seem to be separate from God and sent out by God that aren't identified with him, but there seems to be also sometimes this figure called the angel of the Lord that is sent from

[30:14] God, but is also identified with God, like, referred to as God himself, I don't have any verses here, it's in the Exodus, you'll see that in the Exodus, you'll see it with Abraham, and so, yeah, how are we to think of that angel of the Lord, yeah, it seems to be something quite unique about that, it seems to be God himself coming down, but referred to as the angel of the Lord, and I, yeah, I think you're right to say that that hints at the second person of the Trinity, it's, we see kind of a glimpse in the Old Testament of us, someone can be sent from God and also be God, and so it's kind of a kind of a foreshadow of Christ, yeah, Judy.

[31:01] In Genesis 32, the angel is described as a man, but it's in the heading, the Bible heading, it's described as God, it says, Jacob rested with God, so, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a good point, yeah, yeah, just with the use of angel, we should read it in context, remember I said angel could mean angel as in heavenly angel or messenger, human messenger sometimes like in James 2, so you could add a third category of what we need to kind of think about and read in context, also it could be the angel of the Lord God himself, so, yeah, just read in context when we encounter the word, yeah.

[31:59] Anything else? We can do questions at the end as well, let's try to finish with this next section, demons and the devil. Now I think this deserves its own session, in fact I think we might do a Sunday school next year, I've got something in my head, I'm planning, maybe do a Sunday school on God's providence and suffering, and I think demons and the devil would be a whole session of that, but let me just do a quick breakdown of who or what demons and the devil are.

[32:35] So Peter and Jude tell us God created angels and two Peter two that some angels fell into sin. God did not spare angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.

[32:55] And Jude six, the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their proper dwelling place. There seems to be that there was a fall of angels from heaven at some point.

[33:09] Now we don't know when, probably some point after day six of creation because everything was very good at the end of day six. So sometime between then and then the fall in Eden where the devil appears.

[33:24] And those angels were thrown into hell, it says here. But at the same time fallen angels seem to be the demons and unclean spirits that we meet in the gospels.

[33:40] So angels are spirits aren't they? That's Hebrews 1. But the demons in the gospels are called unclean spirits. They seem to be unclean evil versions of what angels are.

[33:57] And so nothing is explicit here but it seems like demons are fallen angels. angels. And also Jesus speaks of in Matthew 25 the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

[34:12] So the devil's minions, the things that he leads are called his angels. But those things also seem to be unclean spirits and demons.

[34:23] And so maybe we can add these things together and maybe gather that probably fallen angels are the demons and the unclean spirits. And a bit like angels, they can do supernatural things except that they're out to cause harm.

[34:41] So Mark and I, they can take possession of people and control people in their minds. They can give people super strength in Mark 5. They have special knowledge about Jesus in Mark 5 7.

[34:57] And again, like angels, demons are real. people. So these accounts in the Gospels, you must not think that these are really just epileptic fits, but the writers just call them demonic activity.

[35:15] Mark is very clear, these are demons. Demons are real. And their head, their leader, is the devil.

[35:26] evil. So Jesus, in Matthew 25 again, he speaks of these evil forces as the devil and his angels. Okay, that's a quick overview of demons.

[35:37] But now, who or what is the devil? Well, like demons, the devil could well be a fallen angel.

[35:48] So Jesus says in Luke 10 18, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Now, when did he fall? When did Jesus see him?

[35:58] Again, it must be some point between day six of creation and when he appears in the garden as the serpent. So at some point between that, we don't even know how long that period is.

[36:11] And why did he fall? We don't know. Jude 6 says that these angels didn't keep their position of authority.

[36:23] So it could well be to do something to do with pride, despising God's authority over the angels, but ultimately we don't know that this is kind of a real mystery of what caused it.

[36:38] But we do know his mission. If angels exist to serve the church, Satan exists to destroy it. So 1 Peter 5, he's like a lion in this world seeking to devour Christians.

[36:52] Christians by destroying their faith, particularly by fear of persecution. That's what 1 Peter is really pushing home. And he blinds the minds of unbelievers to not see the light of the gospel, 2 Corinthians 4.

[37:07] He schemes and plots and attacks Christians to fall away from the faith, Ephesians 6. So he's active, real in this world, kind of in the behind the scenes of the invisible spiritual realm, but active here.

[37:24] And he does have some power to do this. So the Bible calls him the god of this world. Now, small letter G, we know there's only one god, but he has some authority, some power in this world.

[37:37] And he's called the prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2. And so Satan is really, he's able to control things and influence people in this world.

[37:50] We don't know exactly how all this works. It's not as simple as that he takes possession of people and they're kind of like robots and they'll do things. No, it's not quite like that. It's more subtle and deceptive.

[38:03] And it isn't as easy to say, oh, that's Satan working right there, you know, he's directly active there. It's not quite as simple as that. Although we can obviously see Satan's work at sometimes.

[38:16] But sometimes it may not be Satan at work. But we need to realize his influence is widespread. It's on an individual level, Ephesians 6, as he schemes against individual Christians.

[38:29] Christians. It's on a wider level as he tries to take down churches. We see that in Revelation 2, in all the persecution that's going on. And it's also on a global scale, as Satan blinds billions of sinners to the gospel.

[38:49] And Ephesians 2 even says that every unbeliever, however kind of nice and normal they seem, every unbeliever is ultimately following the devil in their sin. And so spiritual warfare, it's a reality.

[39:04] There is an invisible spiritual aspect to creation and angels, the demons and Satan are at work in that realm. And so we should be aware of this.

[39:18] We must not think that we live in an easy temptation free life. No, the devil and his forces are out there trying to destroy the church. But I want to end on this.

[39:31] We know ultimately they won't destroy the church. God is more powerful than the devil. Satan's power is limited. He's under God's authority and he can only do as much as God allows.

[39:47] So think of Job in Job 1. When Satan attacks Job, he can only do so with God's permission. He has to ask God to do that. God. And so Satan is like a dog on a leash.

[39:58] Martin Luther, the reformer, he once said that Satan is God's devil. He's not his own separate God. He is God's devil. And so God is the real one in charge and one day Satan will be thrown into hell.

[40:13] And so God has his sovereign hand over everything that happens in this world including the devil's work and God is in complete control of his church. He's in complete control of your life.

[40:25] So I don't want you to leave today here worried. I want you to leave firstly aware, know that this is reality, but also I want you to leave knowing that God is working all these things for the good of his church, using angels and demons and the devil himself, using all these things for the ultimate good of his church and the glory of his name.

[40:47] So I want you to leave here today knowing you have nothing to fear. The piano is definitely playing, isn't it? Let's go one or two questions.

[41:02] Chinua. What did Jesus teach us to pray and deliver us from evil?

[41:34] That's one of the basic prayer that we can learn, isn't it? And so one of the basic things we can do, one of the most important things is to pray against the devil's work, against the church and in our lives and pray that we will be delivered from his temptation.

[41:49] There's a lot more to say about the devil, how he works temptation and persecution and things like that. So yes, definitely pray against it. What was your other question? I was giving a talk in New Forest, I was totally lost and the talk, I was stopped, I had to speak in 15 minutes in church and this car came alongside and said, where are you going?

[42:17] I said, there, they said, you're in, they said, just follow me. And I followed this car and it got me there two minutes before I had to speak, literally. And I got out and I wasn't wondering if that was an angel.

[42:27] Yeah, we don't know. Yeah, it seems to be that angels, so God doesn't have to use angels to do something like that, does he?

[42:42] Like, he can use normal people and craft history and events to do that. So we don't have to automatically think that that's an angel, but we don't have the knowledge to say that it's not.

[42:53] it seems to be that there's perhaps a bit more of a supernatural aspect to angels. They're perhaps doing stuff more behind the scenes.

[43:06] And where we really see them at work, it's in these turning points of redemptive history. But that isn't to say that, yeah, Ephesians 1's right, that they're ministering spirits serving the church, so maybe, maybe.

[43:21] I don't want you to leave here kind of superstition, oh, I think that's an angel there, or that, I guess it. Like, it's, like, God doesn't have to use angels, he works in so many ways, and he uses the church, he uses people to minister to other Christians, you know, we minister to each other, so, you know, I'm not saying you're all angels, you know.

[43:42] And we don't, and think about the negative side, we don't always have to think, like, oh, there are demons at work here, and the devil is at work because, you know, that thing fell off and ruined my day, like, it's, yeah, it's not always like that.

[43:57] That's why I want us to focus on God at the end of this, know God's sovereignty, he is, he's in control of all aspects of your life, but also just have awareness that there are these unseen spirit activities that we need to be careful about.

[44:14] Yeah, David. I need to see what that word is, like, what do we, yeah, we need to, yeah, do you have the passage?

[44:37] Um, yeah. It might be 25. We'll have a think afterwards.

[44:52] Right. Yeah, yeah. Good question. Good question. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. We'll have a think afterwards. All right. Quick answer is think about how the word is used in context.

[45:04] Does it mean we suddenly transform into angels? There's probably not, so think about how it's used. It could be messengers. On that note, let's pray. Lord God, you are the Lord of hosts, the Lord of angel armies.

[45:26] You are glorious in all your might, and we marvel that you have made these angels to worship you and to serve us, your church.

[45:39] And so, Lord, we marvel at your power, your grace, and we do acknowledge that there is a spiritual reality to creation, and we pray that you would deliver us from the evil one, that you would protect your church, lead us not into temptation, but keep your people safe.

[45:59] and we pray that we would worship you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength today, knowing that you are the Lord of hosts and that you are worthy. We pray all this in Jesus' name.

[46:11] Amen. Hey Grace, you alright?

[46:32] The book? Oh yeah yeah, sure yeah yeah. This one? Yes. This one and this one. Both are on the bookstall. Yeah yeah yeah. Yeah yeah.

[46:43]  I can show you. I can show you. Yeah yeah yeah. No worries.